There is a NEW Star Captain Back Shoulder weapon in the Traveler shop!

The Grapnel ALB series is a powerful grappling hook styled weapon that has 0 cooldown, increases in power with every use, and has a good chance to deal an HP and EP Damage over Time attack that also increases over time.

You will also find a new shipment of the TNSEWP series including a NEW Level 45 version - and in the Nova Gem shop, the Serious Gatling series has returned!

Screenshot Contest Winners now on the Screenshot Page! Check them out here

As you might have guessed, we are working on the Finale of the Zargon Wormhole for next week! This release features intense cutscenes, a new challenging boss battle, and lots of excitement. I know, we've left you in suspense over what will happen with Zargon... no spoilers coming from me!

We've got a lot more plans for MechQuest coming along after this Wormhole wraps up, too. I'm really bursting with excitement about everything - I can hardly wait for next week and beyond! Huge thanks to everyone on the team making all of this happen - but most of all, thanks to all of you playing MechQuest! Hope you're having a great summer - or winter, if you're in Australia for example - and enjoy your weekend!

The Traveler Gets a New Shipment! A Star Captain Head complements the Ring shoulder series, and a Nova Gem and a non-Star Captain shoulder also arrive!

The Star Captain Macabre Circlet series: Each of the 4 hits has a chance for a critical hit. Can nerf enemy damage by -10% for 5 turns. Can reduce enemy Bonus to Hit by -10% for 5 turns. Has the potential to do HP and/or EP Damage Over Time for 5 turns.

The Nova Gem Poison Cannon series: May add +30 to your Bonus to Hit for 3 turns. Good chance to do critical damage. May mergepurge all Bonus to Hit nerfs affecting you; can also mergepurge all Damage nerfs affecting you.

The non-Star Captain Flamethrower series: Does extra damage. Good chance for an HP DoT - decent chance for an EP DoT as well. Also has the potential to blind the enemy with a Bonus to Hit Nerf over Time (-10 per turn for 3 turns).

The 4th of July Mecha Models stay in the shop over this weekend! NG and SC get a buff! A lively discussion of the power level of the Deflagrator models is underway on the Balance Discussion Forums. After some mid-week Staff discussion of your comments, we decided to buff the Star Captain and Nova Gem models a bit - the Star Captain models now have a chance to get what was previously the Nova Gem exclusive special, and the Nova Gem models have a greatly-increased chance of that special. So we are keeping the shop open this weekend for you to pick up a Deflagrator.

Char is working on opening the wormhole... but...

This is a sneak-peek from one of the upcoming cutscenes in the newest Wormhole chapter of the Dragonoid saga! Lyris has been putting together some epic scenes and we are working on quests, enemies, and ... rewards! Thyton is drawing up something amazing, and as this unfolds over the next few weeks we think you will be on the edge of your seat!

Minar, meanwhile, is working on an exciting top-secret project in his spare time, while keeping busy designing and animating weapons! Awesome art, as always!

I guess that's it from me for now - I feel like I'm forgetting something I meant to tell you, other than to thank you - and I'll see you on the forums (and facebook, and formspring, and twitter...)

The Traveler returns to Soluna City with new weapons (art & animation by Minar, specials designed by blues and coded by Vivi) - something in his shop for NSC, Star Captains, and Nova Gems. If you are a Star Captain you may choose to go on an exclusive quest! This quest will be available when The Traveler comes to town so if you upgrade to Star Captain in the interim, you will be able to access this quest when he comes back.

There is a new bossfight - Vivi designed and coded the AI. I think it's genius! Korin suggested a detail in this enemy's defeat animation that puts a pretty awesome finishing touch on this gem.

The reward is sweeet - another work of brilliance brought to you by Minar-blues-Vivi!

I hope you like the quest - Korin is starting his grand plan of getting help more with quest building. He started by giving me a tutorial, using an existing quest as a sort of template (so you will recognize a lot of elements) and I used that to set up what I guess you'd call the 'bones' of the quest. Things like how it decides which enemies you will fight, and when - choosing from a variety of things you might find if you don't find the thing you were looking for - basically how the quest is set up. Then he took that and added it to The Traveler's menu choices - so that you can actually, y'know... access it...

I actually used real paper, colored pencils, and scissors to set one thing up. Then I took photos of it and showed it to Korin so he could see exactly what I meant. But it would be a spoiler if I were to explain exactly what. You'll just have to play the quest to find out... It was really fun to write and set up and I even got to do some coding without making too many mistakes! I learned a lot from the little things.

Korin also chose from your suggestions and we've given the first Verified Mecha its proper chassis and weapons names. Thank you to everyone who participated - I don't have the list of names of everyone whose suggestion was chosen but I know astro999 came up with the part of the chassis name that shows which level it is. Congratulations and thank you!

And I know I had a lot more to say but I should probably take a break at some point here. So thanks for playing, and have a great weekend! (I'll probably see you on the forums.)

The Traveler has received a new shipment: he is keeping it quiet regarding from where, exactly. He will be in Soluna City for the following week, and he'd like you to drop by and see what he has to offer.

I think we haven't gotten you specials for a while (sorry!) so I will add the specials on the new Arms and Shoulders in a nother note in a little while. Anyway Korin wasn't kidding about how Serious the Gatlings are, nor about how Pretty the new Lasers are! We think you'll like them.

More shops on Yokai now have higher-level versions of some items and also now some of the Necryptos shops have a few (this week the focus is on Heads).

A quick list of this week's additions:

Necryptos:Vampire Hunter shopSkull of Holiness SLE (SC) L43

NG Sekali Desert shopsHound Lasque (NG) L44Dimitri's Glance (NG) L43

Yokai:Miko shopStraw Hat XXL (SC) L41

Crane Master

Crane Master Head (all 3 types) L42

Short and sweet DNs for now - where does the time go? I swear I just posted Design Notes the other day, but apparently it was over a week ago. Time definitely flies when you're having fun - I love working with Korin & the MechQuest team, and I have so much fun helping get the releases together! There is a LOT more being prepared so I'll try to tell you more about all of that too. Have a great weekend and I plan to write again before Monday :)